Band aims to keep Motown Â?liveÂ?

October 30, 2008|By HOWARD DUKES Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND Â? When James Alexander and his wife visited Motown Historical Museum two years ago, the couple left the museum and went looking for clubs where they could hear bands performing the music live.

Alexander was in Detroit, after all.

Â?If I was in Nashville (Tenn.), I could find a club that played country music,Â? Alexander says. Â?If I was in New Orleans, IÂ?d hear jazz.Â?

In Detroit, however, Alexander and his wife couldnÂ?t find a club where they could hear bands performing the music of The Four Tops, The Supremes or Junior Walker & the All-Stars.

That inspired Alexander to start a band that specializes in playing the music of Motown, as well as the labelÂ?s rival for the ears of R & B and soul music in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Memphis, Tenn.-based Stax Records.

Â?We play anything from the early 1960s to about 1972, which is considered to be MotownÂ?s Golden Age,Â? Alexander says about the band, Motown Dance Party, which performs Saturday at the Midway Tavern in Mishawaka.

For a while, however, there was no Â?we.Â? There was just AlexanderÂ?s determination to form a band with the mission of ensuring the music from that era is played live.

AlexanderÂ?s search for bandmates led him South Bend resident Billy Â?StixÂ? Nicks.

Alexander called Nicks Â? who performed with Junior Walker as a leader of NicksÂ? band the Rhythm Rockers and as a drummer for Junior Walker & the All-Stars when the group was with Motown Â? in hopes that the legend would help him find musicians and singers for his band.

Â?James wanted me to help him find a drummer,Â? Nicks says, and he had someone in mind. Â?I told James that I would be interested.Â?

The drummer had just disbanded his most recent version of The Rhythm Rockers, and Alexander quickly accepted NicksÂ? offer.

A bass player who grew up playing hard rock music in the late 1960s, Alexander met Nicks back then when he would buy equipment for his electric bass at Witmer-McNease music store, where Nicks was a music instructor.

Like many musicians, Alexander listens to many musical styles, but, he says, the quality of the music attracted him to Motown, which was created by musicians who came to the label after years of playing jazz and blues music.

Alexander says itÂ?s impossible to overstate the advantages of having Nicks in the band.

Â?He has firsthand knowledge, and itÂ?s like being able to walk through a time machine with a person who was there when this great music was made,Â? he says.

Chandra Williams, one of Motown Dance PartyÂ?s vocalists, agrees.

As an example, Williams says, the band was trying to figure out how to end a song that was written by Bo Diddley.

Â?And then, we hear this voice coming from the back,Â? she says. Â?And Bill said, Â?Well, when Bo and I did it ... HeÂ?s a part of history.Â?

Williams says singing with a band that includes musicians that are as talented as Motown Dance PartyÂ?s Â? the band also includes Terry Austin on vocals, Jack Daly on guitar and Sammy Curtis on keyboards Â? makes her job easier. She appreciates having the musical security blanket because it was not always easy for her to sing in public.

Williams has been singing since she was a child, but she says she was afflicted with a severe case of stage fright starting when she was a teenager.

Â?I was worried about messing up, not hitting the right note or forgetting the words,Â? Williams says.

The Niles resident slowly worked to build up her confidence since moving to this area from Chicago.

One advantage of living in a smaller community, she says, is that audiences tend to be more supportive. Williams actually started her comeback in a very supportive environment Â? the church.

Williams then moved to singing in small venues. Her road to becoming a vocalist with the Motown Dance Party started when a friend of Nicks saw Williams singing at the farmerÂ?s market in Buchanan, she says.

Williams says she didnÂ?t know that Nicks was a Motown alumnus.

Â?I listened to Motown because my parents always played it,Â? she says. Â?But I was more focused on the singers Â? the people up front.Â?

However, Williams says she realized how easy the job of singing becomes when a vocalist is backed by a good band.

Â?ItÂ?s a blessing to be in the band that I am in because I know that if I mess up,Â? she says, Â?they will make me sound good.Â?